Tao Lin - Richard Yates

They walked onto the parking lot of school buses.

Haley Joel Osment said he wanted to sit in a school bus. Dakota Fanning said that was bad. Haley Joel Osment moved toward a school bus. Dakota Fanning said “No” while grinning and pulled him away from the bus and said “That’s bad.” She said the cops here were insane because people sometimes slashed the bus tires so they wouldn’t have to go to school. “Come on,” said Haley Joel Osment. “It will be okay.” He walked to a bus. Dakota Fanning walked away. Haley Joel Osment stepped onto the bus. He stared at the bus seats. He imagined a zombie or homeless person suddenly appearing. He stepped off the bus and put in earphones. He walked on the side of a street. He walked onto the field. He looked across the field at the parking lot of school buses. He walked on a string while looking down and making both feet walk on the string. He thought about walking to the train platform. If he left now he would not see Dakota Fanning again. “We would probably just never speak to each other again,” he thought. “It would be funny. I would write a short story about us. I would just work on the short story every day.” He thought about the periods of loneliness in his life. There was a period of loneliness in high school, a period of loneliness in college, a second period of loneliness in college, a period of loneliness after college. He walked about fifty feet in each direction to pieces of wood at the ends of the string and stepped on the wood. He focused on walking on the string and forgot about other things. Sometimes he thought “I will probably remember this for a long time.” He sat on a picnic bench on the field. He had an image of putting his head facedown on his arms like he did in high school to sleep during class. He felt very awake. He thought about walking to the train platform. If he did that he would probably never see Dakota Fanning again. He knew he already thought this but did not remember what decision he had made. He walked in different directions on the field for about fifteen minutes then toward Price Chopper where he thought Dakota Fanning probably went. He saw her walking toward him. He removed his earphones while walking toward her with a neutral facial expression.

“I tried to catch a toad for you,” she said grinning.

He felt himself walking toward her calmly.

“The toad squeaked,” she said. “It got away.”

He held her for about twenty seconds in a way that they couldn’t see each other’s faces. She said “The toad squeaked” and they walked to Price Chopper. They walked one time around the inside perimeter without talking and then to her house. On her bed one of them sometimes touched the other a little, stopping when the other did not reciprocate, until Haley Joel Osment was asleep.

In the morning he went downstairs in boxer shorts and a T-shirt and opened a closet and ate what Dakota Fanning had said was her brother’s cereal. Dakota Fanning was at school. Her brother was at work driving cars. Her mother was at work forty minutes away. The cereal was large pieces of wheat. Haley Joel Osment showered upstairs in Dakota Fanning’s mother’s bathroom. In Dakota Fanning’s room he found a shoebox of letters and envelopes from tape man. He read the letters. He saw a Charles Bukowski poem handwritten on an envelope and read a few lines. He chose a comic book from a stack on Dakota Fanning’s dresser and lay stomach down on her bed and read for about an hour. He looked at her clock and continued reading but with less attention. After a few minutes he heard the front door open and close. He felt himself smiling. He tried to make his smile smaller and it changed into a grin. Dakota Fanning came in the room grinning and they hugged standing on her bed. “Her grin seems like my grin,” thought Haley Joel Osment. “Uncontrollable or something.”

Around 6:30 p.m. Haley Joel Osment was under blankets reading Ghost World . Dakota Fanning’s mother was downstairs where the TV was on very loud. Dakota Fanning went downstairs and returned with a bowl of pasta and one fork. They sat on her bed alternating eating the pasta while looking at each other. Haley Joel Osment said it was good. About an hour later they were having sex and Dakota Fanning said “Wait” and they stopped moving. Haley Joel Osment was on top of her on her bed. “Never mind,” she said. Haley Joel Osment wasn’t moving. “Keep going,” said Dakota Fanning. “Your mom,” said Haley Joel Osment. “I’ll hear if she comes upstairs,” said Dakota Fanning. They finished having sex. About twenty seconds later they heard Dakota Fanning’s mother already upstairs. Haley Joel Osment pulled blankets over himself. Dakota Fanning’s mother opened the door. “Napping?” she said. “Tired?”

“I’m taking a nap,” said Dakota Fanning.

“There’s potatoes on the stove.”

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning.

Dakota Fanning’s mother said the potatoes were organic. She talked about olive oil and how she prepared the potatoes. “Well, I’ll let you nap,” she said and closed the door.

“She could have come in when we were having sex,” said Haley Joel Osment.

Dakota Fanning had a vaguely neutral facial expression.

“When I was on top of you, having sex with you,” said Haley Joel Osment and stared at her face until she grinned. “I don’t know why we didn’t hear her coming up the stairs,” she said with a distracted facial expression.

“She probably saw me and is waiting for me to leave so she can yell at you,” said Haley Joel Osment. “It seems like she should have seen me. The police are probably coming right now.”

“She would just start screaming at me if she saw you.”

“Are you sure?” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I don’t know,” said Dakota Fanning. “Maybe she would wait.”

“I kept telling them to give me money,” said Haley Joel Osment on Gmail chat the next night about his meeting with his publisher earlier that day. “With $2,000 I can move to New Jersey. You won’t find me an apartment though.”

“I will,” said Dakota Fanning.

“On the train they canceled it and made everyone get off. We all had to walk to the other trains. Everyone was pissed. And they had like 15 cops standing there. To stop people from having a riot.”

“Fuck New York City,” said Dakota Fanning. “You have to move.”

Haley Joel Osment said his cell phone was fixed and that he got $150 worth of books from his publisher. He said they should go there together next time to get more books.

“Okay,” said Dakota Fanning. “I have a big bag. I’m coming Friday I think.”

“Come Friday,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“Okay. I want to sell everything I own.”

“I have like 400 books,” said Haley Joel Osment. “And a coin collection. I have a coin collection.”

“Coin collection,” said Dakota Fanning. “I’m selling my brother. I’m selling my brother to your brother.”

“I’ll email my brother,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I interviewed my dad once,” said Dakota Fanning. “I just remembered. It was funny. I recorded it with my camera. I asked him stupid questions and he just talked about how he only likes the Grand Canyon and how he’s sick of my mom bitching about money because he doesn’t care. It was good.”

“Why did he marry her,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I don’t know. I think they were happy until they had kids.”

“They weren’t happy,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I don’t know. My mom said that once.”

“She lied,” said Haley Joel Osment.

“I don’t know. They were really young. And stupid. Well my mom was. And they were depressed. So they just got married and walked around in the woods together.”

“Did your dad get married before? How old was he?”